Tyler L. Longren grew up in Central Iowa and continues to reside and make a living there. He's worked for various employers, from newspapers and commercial kitchens to startups and well-established Internet companies. Tyler has been involved in technology since he was very young and remembers watching his father write software from as early as 2 years old. Tyler was fortunate to attend a primary school where he was able to explore his interests more freely than might have been possible elsewhere. Since 1999, Tyler has been especially interested in web development. He's worked on all types of websites, websites for friends, local companies, and high-traffic niche websites. He's been using WordPress since 2005, back when WordPress required PHP4 and would not work with PHP5. He's also been an avid blogger since 2002 and started with some custom PHP and an old HP Vectra XW machine running Slackware Linux out of his home, with a dedicated phone line for the modem.